How to: Fitness 43 | The Problematic Origins of BMI: Why This Health Metric Is Failing Us
Feb 10, 2025
Is BMI a credible health measure or an outdated, harmful tool? Discover its troubling history linked to racial bias and how it shapes perceptions of health. The discussion urges a shift toward more accurate and inclusive health metrics that recognize body diversity. Hear personal experiences that challenge the effectiveness of BMI and explore alternative assessments that promote better understanding of health. It's a compelling call to revolutionize how we think about wellness!
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Origins: A Statistician, Not A Doctor
- Adolphe Quetelet created the weight/height formula in the 1830s to describe the "average man," not to measure individual health.
- His dataset used Western European men and later fueled classifications that supported racialized hierarchies.
Insurance Tables Cemented A White Standard
- Early 1900s insurance weight tables were based on white policyholders and guided medical and social ideas about "normal" weight.
- These tables, combined with later adoption, cemented a white-centered standard still used today.
Ancel Keys Turned A Statistic Into BMI
- Ancel Keys popularized the Ketelé formula as BMI in a 1972 paper, framing it as a screening tool for obesity.
- The formula shifted from population statistic to a clinical metric without thorough validation across groups.
